For many car owners, comprehensive car insurance is a non-negotiable. And like most things, it's costing Australians more and more each year.
Premiums may get cheaper the older you are, but even people in the age group with the cheapest average premium (drivers aged 60–69) are paying an average $1220 a year for comprehensive car insurance.
Drivers aged 70 and over pay the second-cheapest premium from any age group ($1230 par year on average), while younger drivers under 21 are forking out $3836 a year to insure their wheels with comprehensive coverage.
Younger drivers under 21 are forking out on average $3836 a year to insure their wheels with comprehensive coverage
When you're talking thousands rather than hundreds of dollars each year, it's even more important that you're getting the best value for your money.
CHOICE insurance experts have reviewed more than 60 comprehensive car insurance policies from around 40 brands, assessing each one on their price and the coverage they offer, including exclusions and limits. We then calculate an overall CHOICE Expert Rating – a percentage score that reflects a policy's level of cover and the value for money it offers.
Not only can this help you compare policies like-for-like, but it also gives you an idea of the policies you probably want to swerve hard to avoid.
Remember, unlike other insurance comparison websites, we don't get paid by the insurers we're comparing and we won't harass you. No phone calls, no commissions. Save money and get better cover with insurance policies recommended by CHOICE – independent and not-for-profit.
Lowest scoring car insurance policies
The policies below received the lowest CHOICE Expert Rating of all the policies we looked at.
"The biggest reason these policies have ended up as our bottom performers is how much they cost," says CHOICE car insurance expert Mark Blades.
"These policies are either middling for coverage and poor for price, such as these specific products from Bupa and Stella. Or in the case of CGU and Kogan, they are some of the most expensive products in our entire comparison and are missing the premium cover to match.
"There are better policies out there that will give you much better value for money."
CHOICE tip: To keep the cost of your car insurance down, Mark says to make sure you're not paying for optional inclusions you don't necessarily need. "You might be able to save some money if you choose to forego things like a hire car after theft or an accident, roadside assistance, or new car replacement if you write off a new car," he says.
These policies rated the lowest in our latest CHOICE car insurance comparison.
1. Kogan Comprehensive
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 43%
- Cover score: 72%
- Price score: 24%
We're usually wary of anything sold by Kogan (a two-time winner of the CHOICE Shonky Award), but CHOICE experts say that the coverage offered by this policy is, well, not too bad. Underwritten by QBE, it offers the option to choose your repairer in the case of an accident and has no excess for windscreen replacements (if you choose to add on windscreen cover for an additional cost).
It also offers three years for new car replacements, which means that if you have a new car and it gets written off in an accident, the insurer will replace the car with an equivalent new model instead of paying out a depreciated value.
But it falls down badly on price. It's the lowest scoring policy on price in our comparison, and CHOICE experts say it's the perfect example of why you should closely scrutinise any price increases to your policy each year and compare alternatives in our car insurance review before you automatically renew.
See the full Kogan Comprehensive policy details.
2. Bupa Comprehensive
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 49%
- Cover score: 57%
- Price score: 44%
This policy from Bupa is 'OK' for coverage with a score of 57%, but CHOICE experts flag that it has some low limits on what the insurer will pay in certain situations, such as:
- $500 limit for personal items that are stolen from your vehicle or damaged in an accident. Many other insurers have raised this to $1000–1500 in recent years.
- $500 replacement cost for baby seats, capsules and prams; some insurers opt to provide 'reasonable costs' of replacement for these items. With some prams alone costing over $1000, this coverage may not be enough to replace items damaged in an accident.
- $500 for emergency accommodation and travel, which only applies 200km away from home if the car cannot be driven. More typical coverage from other policies are $1000 and 100km away from home.
And if you choose the option to add on coverage for a rental car after a not-at-fault or at-fault accident, you'll only get the rental for 14 days, whereas other insurers offer 21 days or longer.
This policy offers virtually the same cover as Everyday Comprehensive and Real (which come from the same underwriter, Hollard), with some minor differences, but in the quotes we received, those policies were significantly cheaper. So, why pay more for essentially the same cover?
See the full Bupa Comprehensive policy details.
3. CGU Comprehensive
- CHOICE Expert Rating: 50%
- Cover score: 72%
- Price score: 36%
This Victoria-only policy offers good coverage, including the ability to choose your own repairer in the case of an accident, but it falls down on value for money, with our CHOICE experts rating it as the second-worst on price out of all the policies we looked at.
It does include mobile phones and electronics in 'personal items' up to a $1000 limit, in case your items are stolen from your vehicle or damaged in an accident.
See the full CGU Comprehensive policy details.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
